Perhaps I shouldn’t blame a driver for speaking his mind, but it feels like he’s shooting his mouth off a little.

He’s doing more than that – with one breath, he says that he is alredy on the look-out for a better seat 2014, but with the next, he says that “his team mate should be a team player and should not have only his own ambitions in the mind” (you’ll have to ask @girts to direct you to the precise comment).

Di Resta gave another interview on Sunday, I watched it and I don’t think that AUTOSPORT’s headline ‘Paul di Resta determined to pounce on 2014 F1 driver shake-up’ is a fair reflection of what he said.

It’s true that he’s talking himself up, indicating that McLaren signed Perez because of the sponsorship he brought (“Perez has some good backing”) and downplaying the fact that his team mate beat him in 2012 (“I lead the race in Bahrain, Hulkenberg lead in Brazil”). You have to filter the PR stuff / rubbish here.

But he isn’t saying that he’s already looking for a better seat for 2014, he’s simply answering questions and saying that he doesn’t bear a grudge against McLaren and that seats at the big teams might become available because of different reasons. Moreover, many drivers, including Webber and Hulkenberg, have admitted talking to other teams than the ones they will be with this year. And McLaren have made it very obvious that Perez wasn’t their 1st choice. So it’s not like di Resta is the only one, who says that he’s been considering other options (which, I’m sure, all drivers and teams have).

I’m actually wondering what makes Paul think so highly of himself? Maybe the fact that he beat Vettel in his younger years gives him a false sense of confidence. But ever since he has been in F1 he has been thoroughly beaten by Sutil in 2011 and Hulkenberg in 2012.

Moreover, many drivers, including Webber and Hulkenberg, have admitted talking to other teams than the ones they will be with this year.

Yes – after they had signed a deal to secure a future with a team. Di Resta is talking about moving between teams before he has actually made the switch; Webber and Hulkenberg didn’t say anything until they had a contract signed and in hand.

And McLaren have made it very obvious that Perez wasn’t their 1st choice.

Yes – Lewis Hamilton was. That much is clear. But given that they were able to not only sign Perez up, but announce it before Hamilton announced his move to Mercedes, it’s also very obvious that their selection process was quick and to the point. According to Tom Clarkson (a journalist who was filling in for James Allen on the Australian broadcast of the races at the time), Hamilton announced his move to Mercedes less than a week after he signed the contract. He wouldn’t have told McLaren he was moving until he was 100% sure it was what he wanted to do, just in case things fell through with Mercedes. So McLaren probably would have had a week to find a replacement for Hamilton, since they would not want to get caught out at the last minute and be forced to pick the best of a bad bunch the way they did with Heikki Kovalainen. I find it very hard to believe that they could have gone through a whole list of candidates and considered the various merits of them and then entered negotiations with all of them and wrapped the whole thing up in the space of a week, especially considering Perez’s status with Ferrari. Despite Martin Whitmarsh’s comments that they had no back-up plan in the event that Hamilton left (which I believe was partially true; they would have done it to start with to prove they were serious about keeping him), I think they knew exactly who they wanted as the next best alternative to Hamilton, and they got him.

Di Resta does seem to think of himself as a driver much higher than he probably should have. @todfod makes a strong point. Perhaps him beating Vettel in Formula 3 has given him one confidence and ego boost too much.

He has been beaten by his teammate in both of the seasons he’s been in F1. In his first season, he was a rookie up against Sutil. Fair enough. However, in 2012 he was up against a younger driver with equal experience in F1 whose been out of F1 for a year, and he lost, fair and square.

I’m really curious what makes him think he’s good enough to be with a top team when he’s done nothing convincing so far to even make Force India keep him for another year, when there’s more new and ready-to-impress talent out there such as Wickens and Frijns.

He really needs to shine in 2013. If he can pull a Perez-Malaysia or Hulkenberg-Brazil to show the top teams that he has something special, then yes he deserves a better seat. But if he is beaten by his teammate for a third season in succession (Bianchi), then there’s a very likelihood chance that he’ll be out of F1 by then.